Skoolbo World Cup

The 2015 Skoolbo World Cup has come to an end ;  a huge congratulations to Team Australia, our new Skoolbo world champions! Over the course of the world cup, children from around the globe answered a staggering 19 026 100 questions.

 

Team Australia =         1 188 758 points

Team New Zealand =     946 084 points

Team Great Britain =  1 151 780 points

Team USA =               1 004 926 points

 

A massive THANK YOU to everyone who took part, we’re already super excited for the 2016 event and can’t wait for it to come around!

This is it! The last few hours of the 2015 Skoolbo World Cup Challenge.  Last night the marvellous children of Team GB did it – they surpassed one million answers!

 

Team Australia =         1 020 059 points

Team New Zealand =     843 107 points

Team Great Britain =   1 053 895 points

Team USA =                   884 670 points

 

By Addison

Shoot for the Stars!!!

Our extraordinary netball squad had been waiting for this match for quite a while and were immensely excited whilst making their way to Gosbecks school.

The match started off very well - with a super score from Amy, followed by a goal from Gosbecks. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 3-1 to Heathlands.

The second and third quarters were super too. As we approached the last quarter the score was 4-1 to Heathlands.

Over all, the Netball match was a success. Well done to all of the netball squad; can’t wait to hear about your next one!!!

 

By Lauren

The Zombies are coming to get you!!!

Yesterday, the year fives and sixes had a very exciting visitor come in, to talk to them about reading and writing. The person who came in was called Jeff Norton; he is a professional author. Before the presentation five people out of year six were picked to have their picture taken with the author for the Colchester Gazette. The five people were: Lauren, Jemima, Ollie, Max and Jasper.


After that all of the year fives and sixes went into the presentation. Jeff Norton told us that he was a reluctant reader when he was little. He became engrossed in a book where you had to pick your own ending. Jeff Norton realised that you have to practice reading to get better at it just like you have to practice to get better at a musical instrument.


Jeff Norton used to read past his bed time with a flashlight because he was so into his book. His parents would tell him off but then he would be wondering what would happen next, so then he would sneek out of bed and find some other way of reading!

Going for Gold

In P.E, 6G have been revising and developing their gymnastic skills. They have been making different balancing sequences, with partners, on and off the apparatus!

mpleting forward rolls, backward rolls and handstands.

High Five to our new team!

The netball team for 2015/2016 has been announced! Their first match will be an away game at Gosbecks School.

The Netball Squad are as follows: Grace, Claudia, Amy, Ruby, Shannon, Amber and Ida.

We hope the squad have an excellent season and wish them the very best of luck!

By Alana
Team Journalist

Year 6 on Tour

The start of the Year 6 residential began with all of us clambering onto the coach-jumping with excitement, as no one could wait to get there. Eventually after a long trip on the coach, we arrived at Kingswood (West Runton, Norfolk).

The first activity was the 'Leap Of Faith'.  Most of us managed to get to the top of the 'Leap Of Faith' and jump off-including a rather excitable Mr Hassard!!!

Another one of the activities which was super popular was the zip wire. What everyone enjoyed the most was sharing a dorm with their friends- even though everyone chatted all night long-much to the adults annoyance!!! Kingswood certainly is a great opportunity to push yourselves and conquer your fears.

There were loads of other activities at Kingswood including; Quad bikes, Go Karts, Team Challenge, Problem Solving, Jacobs Ladder, Abseiling, Indoor Climbing, Low Ropes and S.O.S. We also had a walk to Beestons bump, at the top we had a beautiful view of Sheringham beach.

Another one of the activities we had a go at, was Night Line. Night line is a trust activity, where we had to put blindfolds on so that we couldn't see and then we got guided around a track with loads of different obstacles. On all of the obstacles you either had to crawl under, go round or climb over.

Overall everyone had a great time and enjoyed being together as a year group!

Check out the Year 6 Blog to read more about our other adventures including a boat trip to see the seals and a range of photos including Mr Hassard's selfies!!!

by Lauren (added touches by Mrs Gibson)

Here comes the bride...

On the 8th of August 2015 Miss Smith got married. There was a group of people from Heathlands who went to Miss Smiths wedding.  [Mrs Gibson, Miss Smith, Mrs Knight , Mrs Clark, Mrs Sleigh, Mrs Copping  , Mrs Gallagher, Harry, Megan, Oliver, Lauren, Saffron and Evie.


We all sat at the back of the Chapel. The ACM gospel choir were there, they were amazing at singing! Miss Smith had a beautiful long white dress.  As she walked up the aisle the gospel choir sang "My Girl".


Congratulations to Mrs Fisher and her new husband.

Transfer Day

On Friday 3rd July, 215, Heathlands children transferred to their new classes for September.  The current Year 6 pupils were especially excited as they got to spend a day (in some cases two days) at their new secondary school. 

By Charlotte and Lucy

Trip to Kenya

On the Friday, before half term, Mr Hassard went to Kenya to visit Ack Kathari school.  We interviewed him and he told us some interesting facts about the children there and their school.

One of the questions we asked him was:  What are the main differences between their school and ours?  He replied, by telling us that they started school at 07.45, in the morning and finished school at 16.00.  He told us that they have two breaks in the morning and also a lunch break.  They also have to sweep their classroom and keep it presentable.

For lunchtime they have water from the school stream and have maise for their main meal.  He told us that the entire experience was eye-opening, enjoyable and even active, as Mr Hassard stepped in to be the childrens P.E teacher for the whole week. 

Thanks Mr Hassard for giving us all this information.

Rounders Club

Every Wednesday, after school, from 3 until 4, some Year 5 and Year 6 pupil play rounders on the Poors Field.  Accompanied by normally Mrs Carer and Mrs Jenkinson (Mum to T-J and Wills) all the children have loads of fun in an organised and educational manner.

About 30 children take part and are split into mixed gender teams.  Mrs Jenkinson umpires one match and Mrs Carter the other.  After the first match, the teams switch over and play another game against a different team.  Even though the teams were happy to win, they always show great sportsmanship to the other teams; telling them how well they played ad that was promoted by both adults.

By Sam & Charlotte.

Rocking the Romans

On the 15th June, 2015, Years 3 & 4 enjoyed the fact that they got to dress up as Romans-an important aspect of history!  This event followed a rather entertaining class assembly performed by 3B.  The company that arranged the day were called 'Portal to the Past'.

By Kaiden & Frankie

Leavers T-shirts and Hoodies.

On the 23rd June, 2015, the leavers (in Year 6) were given their hoodies and/or t-shirts.  They are really nice and very colourful; we were all really pleased and were desperate to try them on. 

Thank you to all the wonderful staff and parents who made our Leavers hoodies a reality.

By Emily & Lily

All things Bright & Beautiful

Our Gardening Club is back! Have you seen the carrots, strawberries, herbs, flowers, tomatoes, runner beans, beetroots and more? 

At the moment the children are thinning out the beetroots and carrots.

Furthermore, there is a sale coming up; buttercups in the hair for 1p and a buttercups as a plant: 10p.  Look out for information outside the garden.

Some pictures of the Gardening Club planting will hopefully be on the Blog soon.

Run Rabbit, Run Rabbit, run, run, run ...

On the 10th June 2015, the Year 6s competed in trials for the Athletics Competition on the 16th June 2015. 

Even though not all of the children wanted to race they are tried really hard and pushed themselves further than they ever have in their lives!  Well done!

By Kaiden and Thomas

Let us Grant you 3 wishes!!!

Over the course of the last few weeks, Year 6 and Year 5 have been rehearsing for their production:  Aladdin Trouble!  In addition, nearly everyone has learnt their lines.  Furthermore, the Year 5s are putting in a huge effort to learn all the songs-so far so good!

We would like to say a massive THANK YOU to all the parents/grandparents/guardians and even aunties for making their child's costume(s).  Also Mrs Copping, Mrs Gallagher and Mrs Roberts for making further costumes, props and scenery-you are all stars!!!

Rehearsing photos, will hopefully soon appear o the Blog.  We're looking forward to performing for you all very soon.  We hope you enjoy it!!!

By Lucy

Welcome to the new EFS classes for September 2015!

In September 2015 some new 4 and 5 year olds will become students of Heathlands School for 7 years!  The new children have already had a visit with theirr parents and very soon will be coming for "Stay & Play" sessions.  This couldn't happen without Mrs Lloyd who has helped to arrange this for the pre-school children.

Welcome to our Heathlands family.

By Tom and Kaiden

Ice Pop Fridays

On everybody's favourite day of the week (Friday), Gracie and Eddie have been and will continue to sell ice pops after school in aid of raising funds for the Tom Bowdidge Foundation.

They have some fantastic flavours to choose from:  even cola and cherry.  Also they don't cost too much; bring 30p to school and grab an Ice Pop!!!

By Sam

Crucial Crew

On Tuesday 2nd June 2015, Year 6 went to Crucial Crew.  At Crucial Crew we went to 5 different types of scenarios.  The scenarios were called:  You and your neighbourhood, Smoking awareness, Fire safety, Road Safety and Internet awareness.


As soon as we got off the coach, we were split into different groups.  On our way up to where our activities were, our first test was waiting- in fact it was a lady with sweets; would you take a sweet from a stranger?.  When we got into a big hall, we were split into coloured teams which were:  orange, red, purple, blue, yellow and green (which was our team).  Soon we were off onto our first activity which was Internet Awareness, during this scenario we watched a video about an old man who deceived a young girl.  We learnt lots of important information relating to how to stay safe on the internet.


As we don't want to spoil the other activities for other years we are going to leave it there.


By Lucy & Frankie

Upper’s Under Siege Day

On Wednesday the 3^rd of June, Heathlands Upper department had a fun day based upon their theme: Under Siege. The day was jam-packed full of different activities; including: a drama workshop, an art workshop and a costume making workshop.

In the drama workshop Mrs Gibson and Mrs Carter gave us some activities which included being put in a circle and swapping places with others to make sure that we were not just with our friends/year group. Next we played a game where we got into pairs and our partner led us around the hall and then asked us where we thought we were. It was all mighty confusing! The key to this game was trust.  Finally we explored the Siege of Colchester in the Summer of 1648.

In the art workshop Mrs Carter, Mrs Gibson and Mrs Roberts taught us how to draw Parliamentarians and Royalists on a piece of sketching paper. We used water colours and poster paint to add some colour to our excellent drawings.

By Emily and Lily

Hot off the press...Under the Papers are...

On 3rd June, 2015, Year 5 and Year 6 had a fabulous day competing in Siege themed activities.  One of these awesome activities was dressing a friend in newspaper to look like an important figure from the Siege of Colchester (1648).  Miss Smith led the activity which gave us laughter and joy with plenty of lessons learnt.  Each team gave it their best shot and really put pride and lots of effort into it.  Although only one team came out top per class, a HUGE WELL DONE to everybody who took part in this wonderful Heathlands version of Scrapheap Challenge!  Enjoy our photos!
by Sam

ARGENT HOUSE WINNERS

CONGRATULATIONS to Argent, this half term's house point winners.  No School Uniform day for Argent tomorrow, Friday 22nd May.

Reach for the Stars...Netball Update

On the 7th May, 2015, five talented netball stars made the short journey to Myland Primary School to play against a rather tall Myland team.  After going through some important stretches the teams were ready to play!


The umpire tossed the ball up and the game started.  At the end of the first quarter Myland were beating Heathlands but it was all still to play for.


As the end of the second quarter approached Heathlands looked more attacking although Myland were leading by quite a few at the break.


The third quarter started with a goal to the Heathlands even though Myland were still leading.


The final quarter was fairly quiet and the match ended in a Myland 8-1 win.  Congratulations to Myland and commiserations to Heathlands although they gave it their best shot (quite literally).


by Sam

The chicks have escaped!!!!

The chicks have escaped from school……not really (panic over), they have gone to their new homes.

 

Four chicks have settled in with Mrs Slater and the remaining five with Frankie in 6G.

 

In conclusion I think that the whole school will really ,really ,REALLY miss Ralph (Year 6’s chick of choice) and all the rest of the chick gang!!!!! 

by Tom

We'll meet again...V.E Day; Year 4 Trip

On the 8th May (last Friday) some Year 4s-picked out by lolly sticks-visited an old people's home near North Station.  In assembly, they told us about their experiences which included, meeting several of the residents which happily told them about their time in World War 2 and being given some goody bags, full to the brim with war benchmarks. 


Mr Cranfield made this special event occur; thank you!


Written by Lily

P...P...P...Plopsa

Year 5 are very excited for the 25th June because they are going to Plopsaland.  However there is a slight catch, as they are a small group, ten year 6s get to share their wisdom & also join in the fun!


The way that they will get there, is that they will go on the coach to Dover, get the ferry from Dover to Calais and then continue to travel by coach from Calais to Plopsaland.


The children (and staff) will leave at around 05.30am and be back, probably, just before midnight.  They will probably be allowed to bring some spending money (yet to be confirmed).


Hope you have a good time!!!!!!!
by Lucy.

Very Excellent non-uniform day!!

On Friday 8th May, 2015 we are going to have a non-uniform day in remembrance of V.E day-the day victory in Europe was announced.


The whole school will be in non-uniform for the day to show our respect.  We are asking for £1 donation.  In school we will be having a special assembly in the afternoon.


By Lucy and Frankie

Get Chicky With It!!!

Recently the school got new 10 chicken eggs, a chicken egg incubator and habitat. We have been interviewing Mr Hallum. We asked him four questions, that were:

• Where did you get the chicks?
• What farm did the eggs originally come from?
• Can we please keep a chick to become a chicken so we can have egg products? E.g. eggy bread and omelettes.
• Will we be naming the chicks?

Here were his answers

• It came from `Living egg`(the company)
• Don’t know
• No, but they going to different homes in our community.
• 1D are going to name the first chick; the school is going to name the rest.
   
  In conclusion the chicks are doing very well unfortunately we will not be getting eggy bread and omelettes.
   
  By Thomas.D and Kaiden

Good Luck to the Year 6s

We are wishing all our Year 6s a big, fat: GOOD LUCK for the SATs next week. 


Our teachers:  Miss Smith and Mrs Gibson, have planned a trip to see "Wicked" at a theatre in London the following week.  We are really looking forward to going altogether to see the show,


So good luck to all the Year 6s, once again-fingers crossed for good results!


By Emily

Lovely Leavers

Over the past few months the Year 6 leavers and their parents/guardians have been helping to raise money for the Leavers Disco.  Some children have contributed by being sponsored by their parents to do odd jobs in or outside; such as:  walking the dog, washing up, washing the car or even cutting the lawn!  Also some children have been selling donuts, cookies and drinks.  They have raised lots of money for the disco.


Last of all, they have had the chance to buy a hoodie or T-Shirt in choice of colour.  They will be allowed to wear the hoodies and t-shirts during the last week at Heathlands to celebrate their goodbyes to all of their teachers and LSAs.


By Lily and Emily

Strictly Come Dancing

On Saturday 25th March, ten girls from Years five and six went to Mersea Island School to perform 13 dances that Mrs Carter had patiently taught to us on Monday lunchtimes (every week).  It was really enjoyable and everybody had such fun.  We worked really well as a team and we were really complementary to one another.


Thank you to Mrs Carter who organised everything for us.


By Lily, Charlotte and Emily.

All Creatures Great and Small

Last week Notely Green Primary School visited our school to adventure around our school wildlife garden.  Their school is also thinking of creating their own wildlife garden for their pupils to explore.  Mrs Murrell happily told us that they really enjoyed looking around and that they were impressed by our creativity which we had brought to our beautiful school garden.


We would like to thank the Eco Team (including Mrs Murrell!) and the PTA for creating our wonderful garden for our school to enjoy.


By Lily & Emily

Chick Chick Chick Chicken!!!

On Monday 27th April, 2015, 1D collected their new pets which were a "small" surprise.  As they were CHICKS!!!! 1D were over the moon until they found out they were initially eggs.  But that didn't mean they didn't really like them.  The first egg hatched on Tuesday 28th April, 2015 at about 20.00, and the whole of the Heathlands community was able to watch, thanks to Mr Hassard who  had set up a camera to film them over night.


The chicks were in an incubator set at 37.8 degrees and have since been moved to a special heated box.  Sadly one of the chicks hasn't made it.  Some of our Web Reported went to interview Miss Day about her thoughts on her new friends.


You can find out more about the interview under the name "Eggcellent" interview.


By Lucy and Frankie.

Eggcellent interview!

Eggcellent interview!

As the whole school continues to buzz with excitement about our chicks; what better time to interview Miss Day?

We started by asking her, “Where did you get the idea of having chicks?”

“Mrs Mayhew – chair of PTA asked, would you like chicks in your class?   And explained that the PTA would kindly pay for it.”

After that we asked, “How did the children in 1D react?”

“They are very, very excited and intrigued.  Also they will get to name the first chick.”

Our third question was, “When can the chicks come out of the incubator?”

“After 24 hours they can move to a new incubator but only in groups.  Soon after, they can leave the 2^nd incubator.”

Then we quizzed her with, “What do you think about the school’s amazing reaction?”

“When I was letting the children out of school today, parents were asking me loads of questions and they too are also intrigued.”

Our final question was, “Are there any down sides to chicks?”                        

“Yes because chick 6 – unknown name – has sadly passed away although we still have 9 chicks.  So apart from that no.”

Thank you to Miss Day for letting us interview her.

Sam and Charlotte

Loud Clear Voices

On the 22^nd April, eight schools from around Colchester competed in a public speaking competition, in the Grand Council Chambers, inside the fabulous Town Hall.


Oliver, Jack, Finley and Frankie won the competition of public speaking; they won for Heathlands and they even saw the Mayor of Colchester!

On winning Frankie exclaimed that, “The chamber was very intimidating although ornate...The win didn’t sink in until we got back to the car park.”

Over the next couple of weeks, we  will be interviewing the extraordinary winning team.


by Sam and Tom

So you think you can boogie?

On Monday the 20^th of April, the whole school was buzzing with word of only one thing; HEATHLANDS GOT TALENT!!!

Heathlands got talent is our own customised talent show where all of the students in the school get their turn under the shinning lights. First they had to survive the audition in their own classrooms then in front of Wendy (Sophie’s mother and talent show handywoman). If they completed all of that, then they get to go through to the final where there can be only one WINNER!

by Francesca & Kaiden

Skipping Blueberries

On Thursday 19^th March, a man called John, representing Skip 2 B Fit, tested everyone in each class to see how many skips they could do in 2 minutes. He also tested the staff! The winner from the pupils was Joe and winner from the staff was Mrs Wells.

In a skip off, at the end of the day Joe beat the teacher and the whole school was in delight - children can be better than teachers! The whole school had a brilliant day and thank you to the PTA for organising this event.

 

By Sam and Luke.

Shake your tail feather!

Zumba 4 U!

On Wednesdays, straight after school Veronique Sanders runs a Zumba club for all year groups up to year 6. In the Zumba class there are lots of energising steps and movements. Emily and Charlotte went to watch a recent Zumba class and were tempted to join in to get some exercise! All of the children looked like they were having lots of fun and were enjoying every minute of it so if you would like to join the Zumba club after the Easter holidays then pop over to our School website to find out more.

By Emily and Charlotte J 

Our Favourite reads

Following World Book Day, Dean and Francesca went around the school to ask some the teachers and other adults; "What is you favourite Children's book?"
Here's what they found out:


Mr Hallum -The Midnight Fox (but he had loads!)
Mr Cranfield -Billionaire Boy

Mrs Morrell - Winnie-the-Pooh
Mrs Carter - Wind in the Willows
Mrs Gibson - Meg and Mog series.
Miss Smith - Six Dinner Sid

The Office Staff - All the way to the moon & Back & The Very Hungry Caterpillar

So why not try one of these books yourself and let us know what you think.

by Dean

Oh we all like to be beside the seaside...

On Tuesday 17th March, Year 6 took a road trip down to Dunwich, where they observed Coastal erosion; as well as following a lady, with no shoes on, called Sister Luke-we think she may even have developed Frostbite!!!

Sister Luke had dressed up as a nun from the 1200s and took us on a tour of the streets of Dunwich & up to the Friary.  As well as that, we got a trip around Dunwich Museum and a talk on Coastal erosion from a lady called Jane, who showed u a model of Dunwich in the Middle Ages.  Also we were told, that Dunwich was hit by a terrible storm, which caused a large percentage to collapse into the sea.

Thank you to Mrs Gibson and Miss Smith for taking us.

by Sam and Francesca

Three Cheers for our Football Team

On Tuesday 10th March the school football team left the school, in three cars and set off heading for Swindon. 

It took them about three hours to get to the Premier Inn, to sleep for the night.  After checking into the rooms, the football team, parents and Mr Hassard went to the nearest restaurant to have dinner.  Then they were sorted into their rooms and finally went to sleep at 10pm...ish!

The next morning, the football team woke up and went downstairs, back to the restaurant to have breakfast.  Around 45 minutes later the football team, parents and Mr Hassard drove to the Stanley Park Football Ground to play in the tournament.

When the football team played, they did extremely well but unfortunately they didn't win, but the whole school has appreciated their efforts and are very proud of how far they went to get into the second tournament.

We wish good luck to the football team for next year.

By Dom

Calling all Houses

Don't forget to hand things in, ideal for your house, to make the Easter Garden with!

You can hand in things such as: holly (and other plants), twigs, card, small stones, dirt / mud and other things, if suitable.

Backgrounds are also welcome.

Try to do everything you can to help your house become the one that wins!  But be quick; the competition finishes next Thursday.

May the best house win!

The Hare and the Tortoise

On Thursday 26^th of February, Year 5 and 6 went to compete at a Cross Country event at Colchester Rugby Club. Lily said, “It was very muddy and dirty but we all still did our best and felt very proud after the event!” Franchesca quoted, “We met all of our goals and we are very happy!”

 

The year 5s did 3 laps of the field and the year 6s did 3 and a half laps of the rugby field. Lap 1 went quickly for the team but it got harder as time went on. Eventually they had finished - very muddy and cold and also extremely tired. Mr Minter told our Year 5 and 6 teams the results in assembly. Year 5s came 2^nd and the year 6s also came 2^nd; leaving everyone very happy.

By Emily  

Cool Runnings

On the 12^th February, 2015 the year 3 and 4 cross country team went on a muddy run around Colchester Rugby Club’s pitch. Faiza quoted, “I was scared and amazed!” Whilst Sioned said, “My family were very proud of me.” 

So, under starters orders, the controversial race began - 2 laps of the pitch, in thick mud, the pushing and shoving had commenced. Lap 1 went quickly although the 2^nd lap trailed on and by the end everyone was worn out and could barely run.

Elijah and Lucy came first in their categories and all tried really hard.  All in all, they had a great time and year 3 made it through to the next round! Well Done!!!

By Sam   

Year 6; Exploding Work

On the first day back after the half term, year 6 were told that we were going to do an arty, crafty activity which all of us soon guessed what it was. There was vinegar, bicarbonate soda, washing up liquid and red food colouring on the side of the teacher’s desk. We soon found out our guess was correct when we were told that we were making VOLCANOS! 

The volcanos were going to erupt as well so all of us were soon hard at work making a volcano out of Mrs Gibson’s and Miss Smith’s paper recycling rubbish.  We were told to get into our science places and worked as a team to create our volcanos. We had to be able to work well as a team and keep to the same idea otherwise we would get in a bit of a mess because we would have some people doing one thing and others arguing over what was or was not going to be on the volcano. There were awards for the best volcano, best teamwork and best eruption. But I have to admit the part about the eruption was what got everyone buzzing. It was defiantly a great activity but not only was it just fun it taught us something too!!! What we learnt was to work together as teams and how to make AWSOME VOLCANOES!!!!!!!!!!!! But most of all we would like to thank our year 6 teachers (Mrs Gibson and Miss Smith) for planning such a great day for us so; THANK YOU!!

Think of a number...

On Friday 6th March, we (Thomas, Lewis, Sam and Jack) represented the school in a maths competition at Friar's Grove Primary School.  There were five rounds in the competition. 

The first round was about angles.  We had to work out what the different angles were and use those angles to solve questions.

The second round was all about a basketball league.  We had to work out who played who and the different scores in the matches.

The third round was about algebra.  They gave to us what x and y were and we had to solve problems using them.  Then we had to put hem into a Carroll Diagram.

The fourth round was about visualising.  We had to work out how many of each colour would be sprayed if the Multilink had been sprayed.

The last round was a code.  We had to work out what the letters meant.  Then we had to solve the code.

We (Heathlands) came 5th out of 11 schools.

By Lewis and Thomas

STOP...LOOK...LISTEN

On Monday 23rd February, Year 6 received a road safety talk from a lady called Wendy, from Essex Highways.  Firstly Year 6 discussed what journeys they make outside of school and how to always be safe around roads to avoid accidents.  After that they received a short questionnaire on roads and what they knew about being a pedestrian around roads.  Subsequently, they were sorted out into groups of ten, to go outside to investigate different safety precautions and how to avoid accidents.  Some of them saw a dangerous cyclist without a helmet. All in all,they appreciated Wendy's time, here in school and thoroughly enjoyed the experience (they learnt a lot as well).


Sam and Dominic

The Party doesn't start until we all jump in...SPLASH!

For the last few Wednesday's, 3H have had a series of super swimming lessons.  First we went on a crowded coach.  All the people on the coach who didn't know how to swim were very nervous and all the people who did were excited. 

Finally we were there!  We had to wait and watch 3B swim.  Luckily we had brought our reading books (just to make sure that we weren't bored).  Some people had forgotten their books so they had to read a magazine.

After a long time waiting we were in the pool.  In our first week group 1 got to jump off a diving board.  In our second week group 1 had to do front crawl without a float and with a float. 

On the way back we had to wait SEVEN trains!  Whilst I was waiting I played eye-spy with Phoebe, we also played what house is the most pretty and which view was the best.

by Gracie

Maths Day

On Tuesday 10th February, we went to North Primary for an Able Maths Day.  Mr Hallam took us in his car.  When we arrived we met Mrs Smith, who was going to teach us.  After all the schools had arrived, we warmed up our brains with a question; that was sung to us. 
Next we filled in a pyramid with the numbers 1-5.  Then we were substituting the numbers to algebraic terms.  Also, we had to fill in a multiplication grid in under five minutes, although the numbers weren't written in order.  Next we had a message from an alien but it was in a code so we had to decode it, the outcome was:  help I am trapped inside a moon rock.  We also did some quick maths where we only had 1-4 minutes to do it.  There was some interesting and helpful maths like:  a new method of multiplying 6,7,8,9 and 10.

To top it all off we had to make a cube out of a net that had eight faces instead of six!  Eventually we worked it out.  It was a great experience.
By Amy, Grace, Oliver & Jonah

Sew Cool - Creative Sewing

Children from the Sew Cool Club can be seen here proudly showing their most recent creations. If your child is interested in joining this lovely club, contact Mrs Julie Bennett on 07803 667665 for more information.

Heathlands Footballers 'strike' Gold!

On Friday 23^rd of January 2015 Heathlands Primary School battled against North Primary School in a highly competitive football match.  At Heathland’s Home, the football game took place for the highest position in the large football league. Both teams wanted to win but it was all about fun too.

The two teams were ready in their positions for the first whistle. The line-up: at the back Tj in goal with Declan and Ollie as the defenders. In the middle were Jack with Oliver and Joe alongside him.  Up at the front was Dominic.  In addition, Sam, Graig and Matthew started off as substitutes.

Five minutes after the whistle Oliver ran with the ball on the left wing and did a perfect through ball towards Dominic, who quickly ran and scored a goal! Making it 1-0 to Heathlands.

Later in the match it was a corner to Heathland.  They took the corner and it bounced out of the box so the ball was at Declan’s feet.  He then curled it perfectly towards the top left corner of the goal.

After the final whistle, the score was 6-1 to Heathlands; making heathlands win another three points for the league table. The scorers were Dominic (with one goal,) Declan (with another goal) Jack ( with two goals!) Oliver (with another goal) then finally Sam with an amazing goal from the half way line.

By Dominic and Dean

'Jiko'

In the school kitchen, Andy the catering manager, Imelda, Pam and Kim all work extremely hard making the dinners for the majority of children in Heathlands, each and every day. We enjoy our school dinners especially the puddings!  We have a choice of different meals each day (see menu on home page). We are also given the option to have a vegetarian meal. There are so many meals to choose from: fish fingers and chips, pizza or even roast dinner - they're all great.

 

The kitchen staff are all affectionate and compassionate.  We have called our kitchen ‘Jiko’ meaning ‘kitchen’ in Kenyan because of our strong links with Kenya.  Also if we haven’t said it enough, we are very grateful for the food that we have so generously been provided. 

 

On behalf of the whole school we thank the kitchen staff for all the effort which they place into our dinners-they’re delicious-the dinners not the staff.

Charlotte, Emily & Francesca

Our New Netball Squad!

First, let’s introduce our new netball team: they’re confident, fast and always on the ball. The team captain is Elise, but the other members consist of Abi, Thea, and Aoife, Lily and Saffron – photo to follow!

 

The team have already played two matches in 2014. The first match was against Prettygate; sadly they lost 2-4 but they had great success in their second match against Brinkley Grove and won 6-0 and most recently they won their match last week 4-0 against North.

The team is practising extremely hard and hopes to win plenty more matches this year.

Frankie and Charlotte

 

 

 

 

 

Heathlands to score!

On the 14th of January, 2015 Heathlands Primary School played an exciting Year 6 football match against Kelvedon St Mary’s Primary School, as part of the school football league.  The game kicked off at 3:00pm and we were ready to.  We certainly had some near misses and our goalkeeper made some outstanding saves but Kelvedon scored first with a shot into the bottom right.  Then the referee blew for half time.

Straight after half time wehad a long throw around the goal mouth and one of our players smashed it in the top left.  After that we scored with a powerful shot into the middle of the goal. Then Kelvedon came away, when a defender kicked the ball at another defender’s tummy -  it rebounded for the  kelvedon player to shoot and he scored in the bottom right.

With a small amount of time left on the clock both teams would’ve been happy with a draw but one the Kelvedon players had other ideas and a scramble in the box made for a sad end for one team as the ball broke through and a Kelvedon player put it in the back of the net.   After that Heathlands nearly scored but didn’t and the final score was Heathlands 2-3 Kelvedon.

We all played very well and had loads of fun. Thank you to Mr Hassard and Mr Cranfield for raising a team and refereeing respectively. We wish luck to Kelvedon for the rest of the season and UP THE HEATHLANDS!

Year 2 Linking up

On Wednesday 28^th January, schools from around Colchester joined together for some teamwork games under the umbrella of a drama workshop.  The event took place in Heathlands school hall and was led by a lady called Caroline.  The children played some games involving tossing a coin and squeezing each other’s hands.  One of the activities was making up an animal noise with accompanying actions!

All the children looked like they enjoyed this special event.  Special thanks to Caroline for leading.